


out to discover

by thishasbeencary



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Childhood Friends, Falling In Love, Flash Fic, Fluff, M/M, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-02 03:04:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16778326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thishasbeencary/pseuds/thishasbeencary
Summary: When they were in middle school, Haru left Iwatobi without a trace. Suddenly, he's back at the coffee shop Makoto works at. They rekindle their relationship and Makoto learns a little more about Haru than he expected.(Or: Coffeeshop/Childhood friends AU where Haru is a mermaid.)





	out to discover

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was written for the makoharu flash bang! it's my first free fic :) the art link will come when the artist posts, i have art being done by starstruckscribbles on tumblr

The bell rang, the twinkling noise of someone walking into the shop. It wasn’t that large of a café, and most of the people who came were regulars, so Makoto looked up with a bright smile, greeting them before he even looked to see who it was. “Welcome to Bean Water!” he exclaimed, but then paused, staring.

It had been years, but he was still incredibly familiar. It was Haru, staring at the ground, his bangs falling into his face. “Makoto,” he greeted, looking up from the floor. He walked the rest of the way to the counter, almost looking nervous with showing up.

“Haru,” Makoto breathed. They had been friends since childhood until Haru had completely disappeared without a trace during middle school. His family had never really been around much, so they couldn’t explain where he had gone, he just disappeared during the break one year and hadn’t come back. Until now. “You’re back in town? Where have you been?”

Haru shrugged. “I’ve been back for a day or two.” Ignoring Makoto’s first question, which probably meant that he wasn’t going to answer it at all. Makoto decided he could try again later, you know, as long as there _was_ a later.

“It’s good to see you again!” he exclaimed instead, looking down at the cash register. “What can I get you?”

Haru ordered his drink, a simple coffee without much flavor and immediately handed over the money, standing near the counter as he waited for it to be done. Makoto watched the drink being made and decided to risk his chance at making sure that he could see Haru again. They had been friends for so long – even if he didn’t get explanation, he’d love to get to know him again. “Can we catch up sometime?” Makoto asked, leaning over the counter to smile at Haru. “Maybe dinner today or tomorrow?”

“You can come over tonight,” Haru offered.

“That’s perfect! Here, do you want my phone number?” Makoto listed his phone number quickly for Haru

As Haru turned away, he almost smiled (or maybe he did, as much as Haru _ever_ smiled).

\--

Some things never changed.

Such as a dinner at Haru’s.

When they were kids, Haru taught himself to make a couple simple meals, but it was more than likely that he was always going to make the same thing. Mackerel. For whatever reason, Haru had grown incredibly fond of the fish the first time that he made it and rarely made anything else, unless Makoto or his family begged him to try a different dish. Thus, Makoto was entirely unsurprised that when he knocked on Haru’s door, mackerel was clearly cooking within.

Haru came and opened the door, letting Makoto into the house and then walked back to the kitchen to finish the dish.

They ate quietly, but then Makoto decided to speak up. “So, do I get to know where you mysteriously disappeared to?” he asked, not expecting much of an answer to the question.

“I went with my parents for a while,” Haru answered. “They didn’t like me being alone here. It was fine.”

“Oh! How are they? Are they coming back here soon? Are you staying for a while?” He probably should layer the questions on top of each other, but he couldn’t stop his curiosity.

“They’re staying where they are.” Haru shrugged. “I can come and go as I want. I want to stay for high school.”

“You’ll be coming to the café more, then?” Makoto asked hopefully.

“I think so,” Haru answered, which was more of a yes than Makoto could have asked for.

They made small talk as they finished eating, rebuilding a friendship that really hadn’t left at all. Makoto walked back to his house smiling.

\--

Haru came back to the shop every day for the next month, requesting the same simple coffee, and only sticking around if it was relatively empty. When he stayed in the shop, he drank his coffee slowly and stood nearly silently by the counter, listening to Makoto recount tales of other customers, but rarely offering tastes of his own life since he’d left town. As soon as the lunch rush began, he waved goodbye to Makoto and left the store.

 _Finally_ , Haru came in a day that Makoto’s shift ended right before the large rush came in. He stepped into the back room to pull of his apron and grab his phone and wallet, rushing from the store to try to keep up with Haru as he left.

“Hey, Haru!” Makoto jogged to keep up with him, setting a hand against his shoulder. “I was just wondering… what would you think about a trip to the beach tonight?” Haru blinked at him, as if trying to figure out why Makoto would have suggested the _beach_ of all places and Makoto stood impatiently, waiting for his answer. When it came clear that Haru didn’t know _how_ to answer, Makoto continued, “as a date, if you’d like!”

“You want to go to the beach as a date?” Haru clarified, eyeing him, almost _nervously_ , which seemed strange to Makoto. He knew that Haru would rather swim in a pool than the ocean now that he had access to one again, but it made no sense for him to look so unsure of what was going on. Maybe he didn’t want to date Makoto and he was just trying to figure out how to break it to him nicely. Not that Haru was necessarily the one for _nice._ “Will we swim?”

Makoto laughed, removing his hand from Haru’s shoulder and shrugging. “If you want to! The weather is going to be nice, so it’s a pretty good time to swim if you want.”

“I… can’t… swim… in… the… ocean… with… you,” Haru said, slower than usual, his eyes trained firmly on the road.

“You… can’t?” Unless something had fundamentally changed from when they were younger, that seemed absolutely ridiculous. Everything that Haru did revolved around the water when they were children, how had only a couple years apart suddenly changed that desire in him. “Do you not swim any more?” He almost feared the answer.

What was Haru without his swimming? When they were kids, it was all that he wanted to do, even when they had a thousand other things to do – even when there was no pool available. Makoto had so much to learn about Haru, and he realized it more every time that they spoke.

“I still swim,” Haru said, which just increased Makoto’s confusion. Then why _couldn’t_ he swim in the ocean, unless this was just him actually trying to let Makoto down easy? “Just not in the ocean.”

Oh.

Was he afraid of the water?

Makoto was far from one to judge on that count.

“We can do something else, if you’re more comfortable,” Makoto offered.

“I like the beach.” Haru shook his head. “I’ll see you tonight.”

\--

Haru packed the picnic for the beach – a meal that unsurprisingly consisted of mackerel, but also a decent amount of other things. They laid out a few towels onto the sand and ate, sitting incredibly close to each other. Over the month that he had been back, Haru had been getting closer and closer to Makoto, physically and emotionally. It was almost better than when they were kids, somehow rekindling that relationship and _more_. But… Makoto had introduced this idea as a date.

As they finished eating, Haru leaned in slowly, his eyes already closed as their lips softly met. “I’m glad you came back,” Makoto murmured as he pulled away, looking up at Haru.

Haru’s eyes glimmered with what could be a smile, nodding his head. “It was weird without you.”

“You’ll be back at the shop tomorrow?” Makoto asked.

Haru nodded, finally letting go of Makoto’s hand and breathing out. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he agreed before turning away from Makoto, walking toward the ocean.

Which was an… interesting direction to go. Haru had moved, and they lived so close to each other, which was definitely not in the direction of the ocean.

Makoto watched as Haru dove into the ocean from the dock cleanly without a trace of fear in his body. Makoto stood frozen at the entrance of the coffee shop, trying to piece together the lies that he had been told, trying to understand why Haru was doing this. A late night swim? But why? It was cold out, and Haru himself had said that he didn’t like to swim in the ocean.

But then Haru’s head popped up, his ears covered in something shimmery. As he dove back into the water, there was a big splash before something appeared about the waves. Something… blue… and shimmery and…

A tail? Something that looked awfully like a tail. And Makoto knew that Haru liked the wildlife of the water, but that was insane. The only explanation could possibly be -

Wait – what!?

Haru was… a _mermaid_!?

**Author's Note:**

> maybe ,,, i'll write more free! fic someday? continue/expand this verse? write another verse? idk! i'd love to know what you think! kudos/comments/bookmarks are always appreciated, i love to hear what you're thinking <3
> 
> art link to come when art is posted; my blog is [yoyoplisetsky](https://yoyoplisetsky.tumblr.com/), where i post ,,, mostly yuri on ice, but also some free!!


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